Sicily - Etna


home sicily

history of sicily

hotels in sicily

weblinks about sicily
 


 

 

 SICILY / ETNA

Etna volcano

 

 


 
 

 
volcano etnaEtna volcano

 
 

etna cratersThis active volcano is 3323 m high today.

It does not represent theoretically an important threat for the populations, on one hand because it is not explosive kind of volcano : it does not disperse clouds of ashes, and on the other hand, it takes weeks for lava flow to fill the current craters before overflowing on the slopes.
However more than one hundred of stations of seismic activity supervises it permanently.

In 1992, the village of Zafferana Etnea was saved little of lava flow by the dropping of breeze blocks.

Silvestri craters, formed in 1892


The refuge of Sapienza and the re-installed mechanical ones were mainly destroyed by the eruptions of 2001 and 2002.


etna from the sky - eruption

History of Etna

In antiquity, the volcanic eruptions were allotted to the Typhon monster, struck down by Zeus, and buried under Etna.
Many eruptions were brought back by the history: including those of 475 BC, 1169, 1329 and in 1381 when the lava flows finished in the sea.

The most destroying eruption was the one of 1669, where a river of lava broke on the southern slope destroying 15 villages and a great part of Catania. It lasted 122 days..



etna in eruption - photo

etna sicily

volcano etna

See also : Etna in winter


Palermo - Monreale - Gulf of Castellammare - Cefalù - Trapani - Erice - Segesta -Taormina - Etna volcano - Catania - Syracuse- Noto - Ragusa - Modica - Agrigento - Enna - Mussomeli - Prizzi

 


Home - Hotels Sicily - Links - Rome - Naples - Paris

sicily.rome-in-italy.com 2007